


Look Alive

by general_fux



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Angst, Decapitation, M/M, im not sorry i had fun, kylo is not Okay, mental breakdown? basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-24 00:54:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7486980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/general_fux/pseuds/general_fux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>He was fine. Everything was fine now.  Supreme Leader had said so, had told him that if he did just one last thing for him before the final stages of his training, that everything would be fine. And it was. He was sure of it, he had never felt so calm, so numb as he did now. Completely void of pesky, overwhelming feelings. Supreme Leader told him he would be fine, told him he would feel better once he did it. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He was fine, but Hux was not. </em>
</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>After the events of Starkiller, Snoke has Kylo punish Hux.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Look Alive

**Author's Note:**

> i enjoyed writing this way more than is probably healthy but. #yolo

Hux had done as the Supreme Leader ordered him during the downfall of Starkiller: he retrieved Kylo Ren from what could have been his snowy tomb and was now bringing him back so that he could complete his training; whatever that was. They rode in the transport shuttle, Hux in his seat with one leg folded carefully over the other and Kylo laid out on the floor. Bleeding everywhere. Making a mess, as usual.

The General was only now showing just how shaken he was, having hid it so well while in the presence of his troops during the retraction of Ren. The man’s hands were folded in his lap, but the leather creaked occasionally, loud in the otherwise silent shuttle. Kylo could feel the tension rolling off of the red head in waves and could see his green eyes staring straight ahead at the blank wall. 

“You seem tense, General.” He gritted his teeth as he managed to sit up. “Worried?”

Hux looked down at him but didn’t move his head. After a moment he sniffed, uncrossing and recrossing his legs. “Aren’t you?”

“Not really. Not for myself, at least.”

Hux’s lip twitched and then he looked down at his lap. He was so small without his greatcoat, Kylo thought to himself. He’d noticed how slight the man was before, when they first met, but he looked even more so now. His arms were pressed tightly against his sides and he had drawn in on himself at Kylo’s words. Kylo could see him chewing at the inside of his cheek.

“How badly do you think I’ll be punished?” His words were barely above a whisper.

Kylo stared up at him for a moment, saw the fear in his eyes now. He gritted his teeth and tried not to think about the pulsing pain in his side as he stood and then fell into the seat beside Hux. 

“The Supreme Leader needs you for reconstruction. I doubt he would truly punish you.”

When Hux didn’t look away from his hands in his lap, Kylo reached over and placed his bloody glove over the shaking fists, stilling them. 

“I’m sure you’ll be fine. Look alive, General.”

***

He was fine. Everything was fine now. Supreme Leader had said so, had told him that if he did just one last thing for him before the final stages of his training, that everything would be fine. And it was. He was sure of it, he had never felt so calm, so numb as he did now. Completely void of pesky, overwhelming feelings. Supreme Leader told him he would be fine, told him he would feel better once he did it. 

He was fine, but Hux was not. 

_I’m sure you’ll be fine._ He was sure he was not; he had lied to Hux and he saw Hux thinking that - no, _heard_ \- just as he plunged his lightsaber through his chest. He hadn’t said a word, hadn’t tried to tell him that the didn’t have to. What little light had been in the man’s eyes had gone out, and his body crumpled down against Kylo, hands scrabbling against his robes before going still.

That’s when everything in Kylo’s head stopped, right along with Hux’s heartbeat and his breathing and his thoughts and his feelings -

He’d knelt there with Hux’s body slumped against his; his lightsaber still burning a hole through the General’s jacket where the heated hilt rested against him. The smell of his charred flesh was becoming overpowering in Kylo’s nose, he could feel his eyes beginning to water and his throat closing up. He barely heard Snoke when he spoke, all he could hear was the sound of Hux’s breath as it left his body, his last choking gasp repeating over and over in his ears.

_Make an example for the rest of the First Order. Use him._

Hux was so small. He thought absentmindedly to himself as he dragged him through the halls of the Finalizer, one hand gripping the back of Hux’s collar while the other’s fingers were twisted through the hair of his decapitated head. His pretty orange locks looked like fire against his black glove, and Kylo wanted so much to feel them with his bare skin, to see if they felt as soft as they looked, weaved through his fingers.

Not a single word was said to him as he walked. Troopers and officers fell behind him as he went, following him all the way to the bridge in silence. Hux’s body thumped lifelessly to the ground in front of the huge viewport, but Ren didn’t drop his head. 

_Let this be a lesson on the consequences of failure._

He hadn’t even felt himself say the words, didn’t realize that the garbled, low voice he heard was his own, heavy through the vocoder. He felt like he was floating, watching everything from a distance like some vague bystander, hearing Snoke’s words fall from his own numb lips.

Making his way to his quarters was another blur, another sequence of dragging footsteps and an empty head - his head - and then Hux’s, heavy where it swung in his hand. 

He almost didn’t want to take his helmet off, to see it with his own two naked eyes. But he had to. And when he did he sighed, a cold chill running up his spine as he set it down carefully on the pedestal where he would usually place Vader’s helmet. 

Hux’s eyes were closed, delicate light lashes brushing his cheeks. There was no color to them, no color to any of his skin. He’d been pale to begin with, but in death he truly did resemble porcelain. 

No color. That wasn’t right. Kylo would fix that, he could fix that right now. Couldn’t have the General looking so sickly, so somber. Hux had always had bright, full lips, so pink and full of life when the rest of him was not.

A dab of blood from his bowcaster wound was all he needed. He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together before reaching forward and gently running it over the General’s plump lower lip. _Yes, that’s it_. Blending it out would help, but his glove wasn’t good for that. Once it was off and Kylo smoothed out the color with the pad of his thumb, he smiled to himself. 

That’s it.

A little smeared on his cheeks gives the wonderful illusion of rosiness. Something the man lacked in everyday life, but Kylo thought suited him well now.

He cupped the man’s cheek in one gloved hand and leaned forward, pressing his lips to Hux’s ever so gently. All the warmth had gone out of him, so quickly, but they were still soft, and now they tasted like Ren. Ren had always wanted that, wanted to taste himself on those plush, pink lips. His bare hand smoothed through the ginger’s hair and he moaned, felt his breath hitch in his chest because his hair was softer than he had ever imagined it to be. He played with it for several seconds, curling it over his fingers and pulling a bit, wondering if Hux would have liked for him to pull his hair and to paint his mouth red.

When Kylo pulled back he frowned to see that he had wiped a bit of the blood from Hux’s lips. That wouldn’t do. Not at all.

Another dab at his wound. Another gentle smear. There. That’s it.

_Look alive, General._

**Author's Note:**

> come hmu on tumblr @ [ndkylo](http://ndkylo.tumblr.com)!


End file.
